County transportation officials have spent tens of millions of dollars on legal fees without adequate financial controls or oversight to evaluate and limit the costs, according to an audit released Wednesday. The review, by the inspector general of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, found that MTA attorneys had no written procedures for managing cases and routinely spent more than $200,000 for outside legal work without getting permission from the board of directors.

SAP has reached an agreement to pay for all of Oracle Corp.'s legal costs in connection with the high-profile copyright-infringement battle between the two corporate-software rivals. Oracle, however, remains in a position to win billions of dollars in damages at trial, according to a person familiar with the matter. Under the agreement, Oracle would receive $120 million from SAP to cover legal costs while agreeing not to pursue punitive damages. Yet Oracle still would be able to pursue damages related to SAP's acknowledged copyright infringement, which could reach roughly $2 billion, the person said.

Here are some real estate-related tidbits from the legal file: • Out from under him. A captain in the Army National Guard from Texas has his home back now, but not before it changed hands a couple of times without his knowledge while he was serving in Iraq. Seems his homeowner association, like many others, was struggling with residents not paying their assessments and ended up foreclosing. But his wife, who said she suffered from anxiety and depression over her husband's tour of duty, didn't open the certified letters informing her that the $315,000 home in Frisco, Texas, was about to be sold to collect $977.

Alarmed by soaring legal costs at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state legislator has called on the giant transit agency to review its litigation practices and finally heed the recommendations of a 2004 state audit. In a letter sent this week to MTA Chief Executive Arthur T. Leahy, Assemblyman Hector de la Torre (D-South Gate) said he was concerned that the agency's legal costs had surged more than 200% since 1995 and that MTA officials had brushed off suggestions from the state auditor to improve the oversight of contracts.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has spent more than $34 million in a legal battle with one of America's largest contractors -- even though the most the transit agency could win in damages would be about half that sum. The case has dragged on for 15 years, with new hearings set to begin in coming weeks. With the agency now considering fare increases and service cuts, some officials are calling for an audit of the expenditures and wonder if the lawsuit represents a waste of taxpayer dollars.

A city schoolteacher removed from the classroom more than seven years ago for alleged misconduct -- and who continued to receive a full paycheck the entire time -- should be fired immediately, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ordered Tuesday. The ruling was the latest turn in the Los Angeles Unified School District's long battle to terminate Matthew Kim, a former special education teacher at Grant High School in Van Nuys. Kim had been accused of touching co-workers' breasts and making improper advances and comments toward students.

Qualcomm Inc. posted a fiscal second-quarter loss on a hefty payment to rival chip maker Broadcom Corp. to end legal disputes that spanned several continents. Qualcomm lost $289 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with a profit of $766 million, or 47 cents, a year earlier. The latest quarter includes a charge of $748 million, or 43 cents, to pay Broadcom. Revenue slid 5.8% to $2.46 billion. Shares of Qualcomm rose $1.81, or 4.4%, to $43.17. Broadcom shares gained 16 cents to $24.38.

Chevron Corp., which prevailed in a human-rights lawsuit seeking to hold it responsible for the shooting of Nigerian protesters at an oil platform, is seeking nearly $500,000 in legal costs from the villagers who brought the suit. Chevron's claim for reimbursement, filed in federal court, includes $190,000 in copying charges. The San Ramon-based company, which posted a record $23.